Not Applicable.
The invention relates in general to filtration and gas/liquid separation, and in particular, to an assembly for removing solids, liquids and/or oil from a gas flow.
More specifically, without restriction to the particular use which is shown and described, this invention relates to an improved filter separator plate assembly to subject a gas to filtering, coalescing, and separation to remove solids, emulsified liquids and/or oils therefrom.
In numerous situations, a continuous liquid or gas phase is subject to the accumulation of contaminants in the form of solid particles, liquids and/or gases, which must be subjected to filtration and separation as attempted by numerous techniques of the prior art. The contaminating material may, for example, be present as a solid, liquid, or gas within a gas media, or dispersed as a solid, liquid or gas within a liquid. Foreign matter is prevalent, for example, in pneumatic lines used in conjunction with air brakes for trucks, buses and heavy equipment, as well as for protecting other pneumatically operated devices such as doors, cylinders, etc.
Many devices in the prior art have relied upon the phenomenon of coalescing dispersed liquid from a fluid as a means to overcome the problems inherent in the accumulation of liquid in a fuel line. Such coalescing devices rely on a coalescing material to coalesce the liquids into droplets which are more readily separated from the fuel than in the dispersed state. The prior art coalescing devices have been deficient in providing an economical and trouble free device that is capable of highly efficient removal of dispersed liquids in all demand ranges of the vehicle engine. Some of the prior art devices may operate satisfactorily at low flow rates through the separator, but as the engine output increases, the flow rate becomes greater and efficiency of coalescing and separation then suffers in such devices resulting in water particles, and the like, being delivered to the air compressor. The overall deficiency of such coalescing systems has resulted, in part, from the ineffective cooperation between the incoming flow and the coalescing stage.
Moreover, known coalescing-type apparatus have failed to provide or have not provided sufficient filtration of solids prior to entry to the coalescing stage, because of which the coalescing operation becomes less efficient due to the interfering presence of solids. The prior art coalescing devices have not further provided effective filtration and separation at all flow rates through the separator, with a resulting decrease of efficiency. Accordingly, the known techniques of filtering and separating contaminants from a fluid, such as a diesel oil and the like, have not attained the optimum level of efficiency to accomplish removal of solids, dispersed liquids and gases from a fuel at all demand levels of the engine.
A separator plate is provided in a dryer housing which is connected to a desiccant can for use in, for example, drying and cleaning the air for pneumatic lines. The separator plate includes a conical or domed section surrounded by a baffle which in combination, define an expansion chamber within the dryer housing. The expansion chamber is lined on its inner surfaces with a coalescing/filtering media which will remove oil aerosols and vapors, and water aerosols and vapors from the air passing through the housing. The separator plate also includes a ring of coalescing/filtering media externally of the expansion chamber, but through which the air must pass prior to exiting the separator housing and entering the drying canister.
It has been found that by forcing the air through the tortuous path defined by the expansion chamber, 99.99% of oil aerosols and vapors, and 99.9% of water aerosols are removed from the incoming air prior to the air""s further usage.